It was supposed to be on Thursday, but was moved to last night because of the NY/Boston baseball game. While normally, I would be a little annoyed by the change of plans due to a sporting event, 1. it's NY/Boston, and even I, a sports moron, know that's a big ticket game to be at. 2. He also had tickets for Friday, but blew it off to go out. So, at this point, the Man With Potential (MWP) is pretty much breaking even pre-date.

I had planned on listing the good and bad things from the date, but in all honesty, after trying really hard, I couldn't come up with any bad. If I didn't know better, I would think he read the blog and followed my every request.

Making plans: check..he asked if there was anything in particular I wanted to do, but when I told him I would trust him to be the man and take over, he was all about it. Pre dinner drinks at rooftop bar (not the ex's bar), yummy sushi, walk along the waterfront, after dinner drinks at a quiet, loungy place. Watermelon martini..yum

Compliments: check check..we first met after I had been working all day, so I wasn't at my cutest, for sure. When he first saw me looking all girly in the cute shoes and the flowery top, there was appropriate jaw dropping. I dig that. Can you interrupt me mid sentence? Yes, if it's to tell me again that I look beautiful. That may have happened more than once. So far, so good.

Dress in big boy clothes: check..unlike my attire when we first met, he was actually in big boy business attire, so I was looking forward to seeing the more casual side and whether that would translate into an unkept mess. Jeans, t-shirt, sports coat, broken in (but cool) boots. Well-done. Totally unembarrassing (yes, it's a word, i said so) to be seen with in public. We spoke of the wardrobe. He owns lots of shoes. I dig that. I know most men feel like if they have 2 or 3 pairs of shoes, they're covered. I just can't relate.

Dogs: check..there was walking, there was bonding. Not over the top, I'm-trying-to-prove-what-a-great-guy-i-am bonding with the dogs, but just enough to be sweet. Seriously, this is the sort of balance that makes him the MWP.

The manly/sensitive (most controversial): check check check...I think that maybe part of this balance lies in humor. The ability to not take even serious stuff too seriously, and to laugh at yourself. In MWP's case, it's also just in good balance generally. Yes, he is really into sports. He also cooks, did some acting in college, and is the kind of funny that comes very easily..not the kind that is forced punch-liney. He is a suit, and a Republican, but he left his suit job a few years ago because he needed to decompress and took a job in Florida, where he lived on the beach and wore flip flops every day. He's just gotten back into suit mode in the past year. He has perspective.

We talk and laugh easily, both have a way of jumping in and out of and back to conversations, while never getting lost, and the boy can kiss. Have I mentioned the sarcasm? The good kind. We both agreed it was an awful date and we should never, ever go out again.

*As a funny side note: we did meet at the ex's bar, because that's where the water wall was installed. When I returned to install the monkey, the ex said, "So, who was the guy you were here with the other night?" He had apparently come by and saw us there, far too enrapt in conversation to notice him. The ex's take on MWP? "Good-looking guy..he's really tall, huh?" Yeah, he's 6'5. Good stuff.